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January 17, 2007
Let’s Help Glenda Extend her Reach
Please join your fellow eSight members for another learning opportunity this week as Glenda Watson Hyatt celebrates the publication of her new autobiography, "I'll Do It Myself."
Since she was 10, Glenda has dreamt of writing her autobiography, of sharing her story with others and of motivating others to become all that they can be.
An eSight member since 2002, Glenda is operates her own consulting business, Soaring Eagle Communications, which is committed to increasing awareness and accessibility of today's communication technologies so that people with disabilities can fully participate in all facets of society.
She also writes a blog, JustWrite, and, as a freelance writer, has contributed five articles to eSight's database of more than 1,000 articles about career management from a disability perspective.
I recently interviewed Glenda about how she compares book marketing with job hunting, how she is using the Internet to promote her book and how she cultivates online relationships with people.
For Glenda, who has cerebral palsy and speaks with difficulty, online marketing is playing a major role in her book marketing strategy.
"I've recently realized the key is cross media promotion - using one medium to promote your presence in another," she told me. "Essentially, you build your own media empire using various formats, such web sites, ezines, blogs, podcasts, webinars, and Internet radio. You then add in traditional media coverage like newspapers, print magazines, radio, TV."
I believe Glenda has developed a strategic and tactical approach to online marketing that can be helpful for us all, whether we're job searching, trying to extend our professional networks or trying to market a service or product as an entrepreneur.
See "Promoting Yourself Is Building Solid Relationships," eSight's interview with Glenda.
During that interview, Glenda explains one of her tactics in marketing her book: a virtual book tour she calls "40 Blogs in 40 Days."
The idea behind this virtual (no travel) book tour, says Glenda, is to have 40 bloggers and ezine writers interview her in 40 business days. During the tour, bloggers send her questions about her book, which she answers by e-mail. Each blog then posts her responses, either as a Q&A or as an article, on its selected day of the tour.
On January 22, the eSight Networking Forum (right here) will be the second "stop" on her tour book
Let's all help Glenda's "40 Blogs in 40 Days" virtual book tour - and her January 22 stop at the eSight Networking Forum - become a stellar success. To support Glenda in her "40 Blogs in 40 Days" marathon, there are two things you can do right now:
First, you can become an active participant in Glenda's virtual book tour by e-mailing the URL of Glenda's interview article (and this special announcement e-mail) to three of your friends and acquaintances, asking them to do the same. It's a quick and easy way to extend Glenda's reach to potential readers of her book. If each one us takes five minutes to do just that, we, as eSight members, can make a significant impact on Glenda's outreach efforts.
Second, on this eSight Networking Forum offer Glenda your ideas about where she can post a blurb about her book so she can reach those who will benefit by reading it.
For instance, do you know a blog that includes participants who need to hear about Glenda's book?
Post your suggestions here for helping Grenda extend her reach. And, while you’re at it, tell us what you’ve done to help Glenda reach potential readers of her book.
Add your comments to this posting
Posted by Jim at January 17, 2007 11:03 AM
Comments
Set up a MySpace and Facebook account. I'll look up the urls for you and post later.
Good luck.
Posted by: Victor at January 18, 2007 10:26 AM
Hi, Glenda:
Have you tried sphere.com at http://www.sphere.com/tools#getsphered?
The Sphere It! Bookmarklet is a free bookmarklet that makes it easy to find blog posts that relate to what you're reading on the Web.
Here’s how I works. Click on an article that interests you. Let's say you're reading an article on CNN.com about independent living for people with disabilities (or some other topic that relates to your book). You're wondering what bloggers have to say about that topic.
Click the Sphere It! Icon and, in seconds, you'll land on a search results page with links to blog posts along with additional news articles that match the subject of the article you were reading.
This could help locate other blolgs which would be interested in your book.
Also, just think of the networking possibilities if you were trying to market yourself as a freelance writer who specializes in the medical field. You could use sphere.com to develop your contacts without leaving your keyboard.
By the way, I think your book cover is fantastic. Did you have a "book packager" help you with your book?
Jim
Posted by: Jim Hasse at January 22, 2007 12:42 PM
Thanks for these suggestions. I hadn’t heard of sphere.com; I will check it out and see how it is different from technorati. Please keep the suggestions coming. This is great!
Jim, I’m glad you like my book cover. Nancy Cleary of Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing (http://www.wymacpublishing.com/) designed the cover. She also designed the banner for my new blog (http://www.doitmyselfblog.com/). I love her work!
Debbie Fierst (http://www.logicalimagination.com/debfierst.cfm) generously volunteered to edit the entire manuscript. And First Choice Books (http://firstchoicebooks.ca/) printed the books.
Self-publishing was a lot of work; many things to learn and many details to organize. But, it was worth it and I am glad I went that route. Now, the next step is to promote and sell the book.
I would like to thank eSight for its support in this venture and for being the first stop on my virtual book tour “40 Blogs in 40 (Business) Days”. And I would like to invite eSight members to join me for the rest of the tour by visiting http://www.doitmyselfblog.com/ and signing up to receive the blog updates. Thanks again!
Posted by: Glenda Watson Hyatt at January 22, 2007 03:33 PM
I'm also curious about how you are handling the fulfillment activities in selling this book. I see you're using PayPal. Who actually ships the books to customers?
Fulfillemt is alot of work.
Posted by: Jim Hasse at January 22, 2007 06:26 PM
At the moment I'm shipping books to customers. I have a mini post office set up on my work table. I do need to further explore distribution options like Lightning Source, and BX Media is interested in distributing my book in the States. But I do like that personal connection I have with my readers. However, I'm realizing I do need to put another option in place in order to increase sales. Always something new to learn and research!
Posted by: Glenda Watson Hyatt at January 23, 2007 12:25 AM
Glenda,
Have you ever heard of www.lulu.com?
It is a print on demand service. I just ordered a book from The Advocado Press and they use lulu.com to publish and distribute their books.
I ordered the book online and was very pleased with the quality.
Posted by: Nancy at January 23, 2007 10:10 AM